A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down; Biden Unveils $1.9 Trillion Covid-19 Relief Plan

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade as President-elect Joe Biden announced a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package, which also includes additional $1,400 checks for Americans. Investors are awaiting earnings reports from JPMorgan Chase JPM, Wells Fargo WFC and Citigroup C.

Data on retail sales for December, Producer Price Index for December and Empire State manufacturing index for January will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on industrial production for December will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET, while data on business inventories for November and the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for January will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari is set to speak at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 87 points to 30,822.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 11 points to 3,780.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 17.25 points to 12,883.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 23,313,100 with around 388,690 deaths. India reported a total of at least 10,527,680 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 8,324,290 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 1.3% to trade at $55.71 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.9% to trade at $53.07 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.4% and STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.5%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 0.7%, German DAX 30 declined 0.3% while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.7%. Britain's economy contracted by 8.9% year-over-year in November, while trade deficit increased to GBP 5 billion in November. The country’s construction output fell 1.4% year-over-year, while manufacturing production dropped 3.8% year-on-year in November. Spain's consumer prices declined 0.5% year-over-year in December.

Asian markets traded mixed today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.62%, China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.01%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.27% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 1.2%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1%. China’s new home prices climbed 3.8 percent year-on-year during December

Broker Recommendation

KeyBanc downgraded Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. AXTA from Overweight to Sector Weight..

Axalta Coating shares fell 1% to close at $30.03 on Thursday.

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Breaking News

• SAP SE SAP pre-announced results for its fourth quarter on Thursday, with operating profit rising 26% year-over-year to €2.65 billion. However, revenue dropped 6% to 7.54 billion euros. The company said it expects FY21 non-IFRS cloud revenue of €9.1 billion to €9.5 billion.
• The outgoing President Donald Trump’s administration continues to add pressure on China, adding China’s Xiaomi Corp XIACF and CNOOC Ltd CEO to blacklisted firms, Bloomberg reported.
• Progress Software Corp PRGS reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter, but issued weak forecast for the current quarter.
• Moderna Inc. MRNA is planning to test the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccine booster shots a year after initial doses of the vaccine have been administered to an individual, CNBC reported.